


Every Version of You

by NotEvenCloseToStraight



Series: Short Stories! [45]
Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, Angst and Feels, But it's very sad, Dying Wade, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multiverse, Peter meets AU Wade, Sick Wade, Spideypool - Freeform, Wade Wilson Needs A Hug, Wade has Cancer, i don't know how to tag this?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 04:11:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19804459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenCloseToStraight/pseuds/NotEvenCloseToStraight
Summary: When Peter ends up in an alternate timeline, he finds himself in a world where he is a successful photographer living his best life with Gwen----and Wade is dying of cancer alone in the apartment they used to share.****************The eyes that opened to peer at him were dark and nearly lifeless, cloudy with pain not quite dulled by the morphine. “You’re not my Peter.” The Wade on the bed rasped, his breath rattling through his lungs. “Which Peter are you?”“Which Peter am I?” he repeated dumbly. “I–what–um–”“Multiverse, right?” Wade coughed and it was awful. “Always knew you would figure it out one day. What happened, did you and my Peter switch places?”“No we– I mean yes, multiverse but I’m just here visiting and–” Peter didn’t even know what say, gesturing around to the various machines. “You’re sick. You’re sick and I– what happened? Are you okay? What happened to you?”“Oh.” Wade smiled and it wasn’t anything like it should have been, weak and shaky and not near bright enough. “Let me guess– I’m not dying of cancer in your universe, am I?”





	Every Version of You

**Author's Note:**

> Tissues are very much required for this. I'm not joking, this might be the angstiest thing I've ever written in my life. 
> 
> Major Character Death for AU!Wade as he passes from cancer, but it's peaceful, if that's any consolation. 
> 
> Also, once Peter returns to his own verse there is a fairly happy ending with his own Wade.

The apartment building wasn’t as nice as the one Peter and Wade shared in their universe, and Peter looked around the lobby curiously.

It was the same building– same address, same double door entrance, the lady at the front desk was still blonde and sort of shockingly busty- but it just wasn’t as _nice_. The rich brown tone looked about fifteen years past needing a repaint and the tiles on the floor were cracked and dingy. More than a few lights were out, several of the mailboxes bent and busted open and the elevator made a truly terrifying screech as it came to rest at the bottom floor. 

Peter got in the elevator car anyway, because it wasn’t every day he ended up blipped into a side universe and he wasn’t _about_ to waste the opportunity to explore. Mr. Stark would be furious when he found out Peter had tested the travel chamber on himself, but Peter had _very_ carefully set the timer for no more than three hours before he faded back to his own timeline, and he was only walking the familiar parts of this version of New York, so _realistically_ , he was being as safe about this whole thing as he could be, right? 

_Right_. 

Plus, he was curious about this version of himself, curious about this version of Spider-man and curious about whether _this_ him had met and fallen in love with one loud mouth, spandex clad, disaster of a mercenary as well and the only way to satisfy all that curiosity was to go and find out. 

So here he was in an alternate timeline, parallel universe, multi- _something_ or other where apparently, the elevator button for the fifteenth floor had been so badly abused the entire thing fell right off and bounced on the dirty carpet when Peter pushed at it. 

Alright, so this universe had seen better days. Noted and noted. 

The hall of the fifteenth floor was dim, the numbers hanging haphazardly from various doors and the floor stained with something Peter wasn’t even going to _begin_ to think about. He couldn’t help but wonder who owned the building and why it was in such bad repair, did this universe have different stands for apartment buildings? His own place wasn’t exactly the Ritz, but at least all the lights worked and there wasn’t – _ick_ – rats in the hallway. 

When Peter got to the apartment that was _theirs_ in his own universe, his key slid right into the lock, but then caught and stuck as if it hadn’t been used for some time. That most likely meant _this_ Peter and Wade didn’t feel the need to obsessively lock their doors like he did, which was…odd… considering how _gross_ the building was. 

Peter hadn’t actually planned this far ahead in his little jaunt through alternate timelines, he hadn’t thought about what he would do if he opened the door and Wade was in the apartment or he _himself_ was in the apartment– what a weird conversation _that_ would be. 

Although, if they had figured out the whole multiverse thing on _his_ end, surely other Peter Parker’s had figured it out too, so maybe he wouldn’t be as surprised to see himself standing there as he thought he would be?

The convoluted thought made Peter smile, so he opened the door and peeked his head around into the apartment, more than ready for a look at another version of his own life. 

_Oh._

The apartment was _much_ dirtier than the one he’d left in his own world, much dirtier and much darker and much more depressing. It almost looked like what Wade’s apartment had been before Peter had moved in, but this apartment didn’t feel like a bachelor pad like Wade’s had. 

It felt… it felt abandoned, felt like no one had lived or loved here in a long time and that made Peter uncomfortable. 

The windows were closed and shades drawn, the same couch in the same place in front of the same TV but covered with a layer of dust that said it hadn’t been used in a long time. There was a carbon copy of Peter’s favorite pillow tucked into what had always been his side of the couch, but the stitches were popped and torn, the fabric ripped. 

The kitchen was a mess–which wasn’t all that surprising– but the fridge was empty of everything except a few bottles of water, nothing but a handful of microwave meals far past their sell by date sitting in the freezer. 

_I don’t live here_. Peter thought with some degree of sadness as he looked at the bare spots on the wall where he and Wade hung pictures and random paraphernalia from their date nights. There were no notes to each other taped to the fridge or the closet door, no piles of shoes and no assortment of clothing that were proof of cohabitation. _I don’t live here_. 

Towels were piled on the bathroom floor because no Wade _ever_ believed in hanging them up to dry, but there was a chair in the shower, one of the medical ones that lifted people in and out of the bath and Peter ran his hand over it uncertainly. 

_Why was that here? Who needed that?_

Peter paused outside the bedroom for a moment because as curious as he was about this Peter and Wade’s life, it still felt a little like invading privacy even if it was sort of his _own_ privacy. 

But…maybe it wasn’t _his_ privacy anymore, because despite his key fitting in the lock and his pillow out on the couch, it was painfully obvious that Peter Parker did _not_ live here in this universe. 

Or at least he didn’t live here anymore. 

_Oh well._ _Came this far, can’t turn back now._

Peter turned the knob and pushed the bedroom door open, bracing himself for whatever would be on the other side–

–and stopped in his tracks, mouth falling open. “W-Wade?”

The man lying in the bed was much _much_ smaller than Peter’s Wade, just a shadow of his usual self, really. Nothing more than skin and bones barely making a dent on the mattress, IV’s and leads hooked to different machines, an oxygen pump and heart monitor, a brain activity scanner and one that was definitely a morphine drip. 

“Wade.” he repeated. “Is that– is that you?” 

The eyes that opened to peer at him were dark and nearly lifeless, cloudy with pain not quite dulled by the morphine. “You’re not my Peter.” The Wade on the bed rasped, his breath rattling through his lungs. “Which Peter are you?” 

“Which Peter am I?” he repeated dumbly. “I–what–um–” 

“Multiverse, right?” Wade coughed and it was _awful_. “Always knew you would figure it out one day. What happened, did you and my Peter switch places?” 

“No we– I mean yes, multiverse but I’m just here visiting and–” Peter didn’t even know what say, gesturing around to the various machines. “You’re sick. You’re _sick_ and I– what happened? Are you okay? What _happened_ to you?” 

“Oh.” Wade smiled and it wasn’t anything like it should have been, weak and shaky and not near bright enough. “Let me guess– I’m not dying of cancer in your universe, am I?”

“Cancer.” Peter felt the word like a blow to his chest, a punch to his stomach and when his knees gave out he stumbled into the chair closest to the door. “You have _cancer_? How do you have– that’s not right. You’re supposed to have a mutation, one that _fights_ the cancer.” 

“Not in this life time.” Wade coughed again and tried to smile. “Sorry to disappoint. No mutations here, just a mcfuck amount of tumors. Worst part is, none are on my dick so I’m still _woefully_ under endowed.” 

“Woefully under endowed.” Peter choked out a laugh. “Oh god, you’re sick with cancer and still making dick jokes?” 

“Oh good, I do that in your universe too?” 

“I think every Wade in _every_ universe makes dick jokes.” Peter gathered himself enough to take a closer look at Wade, at the machines and the data and then he took a closer look around the room and back out into the hall. “Where– where am I? Why haven’t I been home to clean this place up? Where’s your version of me?” 

“My version of you?” Wade shook his head weakly. “We uh– we broke up over a year ago. Right after I got diagnosed.” 

“…no?” Peter frowned at him. “No, there’s no way I would have left you after a diagnosis. I would have dragged you to Stark Industries and made Tony find a cure or something, I would have used the money from May to pay for treatments or I would have–” 

“Pete.” Wade waved off is protests with a twitch of his hand. “You don’t know about it. I broke up with you, kicked you out of the apartment.” 

“You broke up with–” 

“Didn’t want you to see me like this.” Wade gestured to all the machines and then with just a hint of his usual snark added, “Figures the fuckin’ multiverse would screw my plans up and you gotta see me like this anyway. Sorry about that.” 

“You sent me away?” Peter whispered. “So I wouldn’t see you hurting? But who’s been taking care of you?” One shoulder lifted and fell in a semblance of a shrug. “You’ve got– who’s here with you now? Are you here alone?” 

“Nurse’ll come in the morning to check on me.” Wade’s fingers were trembling as he reached for a cup of water and Peter jumped from his seat to grab it for him, guiding it to the chapped lips and holding it steady while Wade drank. “Thanks. Wasn’t that difficult a few days ago.”

His head fell back against the pillow. “Told her to go home and get some rest. Pretty sure she knows I won’t make it till morning, so she’ll be back in a few hours.” 

Peter stayed there standing at Wade’s bedside, unable to look away from the nearly translucent skin, the way the veins were too pronounced. “You– you and I– how did I take you breaking up with me?” 

“It worked out for you.” Wade tried for another one of those half smiles. “Great photographer. Avengers like you real well without me hanging around. You and Gwen are gorgeous together. It’s alright.” 

“It worked out for me but you’re here _alone_?”

“It’s alright, Pete.” Wade insisted tiredly, his eyes falling shut for a moment. “It’s– it’s alright. This version of you deserved better than me. Pretty sure every version of you deserves better than me. M’fine. M’just–just fine. This is fine. Better this way.” 

Peter’s watch chimed and he glanced down to see an hour had gone by already. 

“Gotta set a time limit to universe jump?” Wade asked, lifting a finger to point at the time piece. “My Pete had that idea too, said it would be too easy to get lost in the other places and never make it home.” 

“Yeah– yeah it’s my timer.” Peter stared down at the countdown and then over at the man fading away before his very eyes. “But I have time if you want me to stay. Do you want me to stay with you for a little bit? I’d– I’d– just–” he dragged the chair over from the door and pushed it right up against the bed, moving IV lines carefully until he was as close to Wade as he could get. “Is this okay? Can I stay here with you?” 

A beat of silence, and then Wade turned his hand until his palm was resting up, curling his fingers hopefully. “Please stay, Pete. Please? I know you’re not my Pete but I still miss you– I miss _him_ – I miss us and it’s selfish but wish I never sent you away–wish I’d–” 

“I’ll stay. I’ll stay.” Peter picked up the thin hand and cradled it in both of his, muffling a curse when he felt how cold Wade was. “What can I do? Are you cold?” 

“Always but Pete–” 

“Hang on, do you still keep blankets in the hall closet?” Peter was up and out in the hall in a flash, grabbing two extra blankets and running back to spread them over Wade’s frame, tucking it in around the corners. “Better? Is that better?” 

“Better, but Pete I–” 

“Have you eaten? Do you need to eat? A drink? What can I–” 

“Baby boy.” Wade said, and the nickname made Peter freeze, made tears come to his eyes as Wade pressed gently at his hand. “Petey pie, just sit with me. Talk to me. Tell me about–about you. And us– are we an _us_ in your world? Are we– do you love me still? I’ve missed you so much and I– just talk to me.” 

“We’ve been an _us_ in my world for two years.” Peter fluffed an extra pillow behind Wade’s head then sat back down to hold his hand, smoothing over Wade’s knuckles and around his wrist. “And I love– _shit_ , I love you so much. You have no idea.” 

Wade smiled a little. “You probably only love me bout half as much as I love you, Pete.” 

“You could never.” Peter shook his head. “I’m head over heels for you, have been for forever.” 

“How did we–” Wade rubbed his thumb over Peter’s palm. “How did we start dating?” 

“You uh– we did patrol every night for like six months before you finally asked me out.” Peter told him. “We were only supposed to go every other night, but I kept calling you on our off days and pretending we should do patrol. It was just an excuse to see you and I’m pretty sure you knew that from day one.” 

“You’re terrible at lying.” Wade agreed and when Peter grinned, Wade sighed and whispered, “Fuck me, I’ve missed your smile.” 

“Well, you see it lots because make me laugh every single day.” Peter told him. “Terrible terrible jokes. Just the worst. Last week you told me some awful dad joke about koala bears–” 

“-having all the _koala-fi-cations_ to be a real bear?”

“–and I laughed until I threw up my sandwich.” Peter finished and Wade’s shoulders shook through a laugh. “It was the worst joke I ever heard, but you delivered it with such a straight face, I just couldn’t take it.” 

“Tell me about our first date? Was it ice cream? Coffee ice cream?” 

“Oh _no_ , do you eat cappuccino ice cream in this universe too?” Peter gasped in mock horror when Wade managed a nod. “God, all night you fussed at me for eating vanilla but then you kissed me and tasted like coffee and it was the worst.” 

“But you kissed me again, right?” 

“We ended up in bed that night.” Peter admitted and when Wade raised a (non-existent) eyebrow, he amended “Alright, we ended up doing it against the wall in an alley because we were both mega horny. You kept making jokes about all the benefits of me having sticky fingers and being extra bendy and I kept telling you–” 

“–to shaddup and fuck you before you changed your mind?” A near lecherous wink from Wade. “I didn’t shut up and you didn’t change your mind, did you?” 

“We moved in after six weeks together.” Peter grinned again when Wade’s eyes lit up in surprise. “I never wanted to leave you after the first night, so you told me I should just take over a drawer if I was going to keep staying over, and I said if you were a _real_ man, you’d invite me to live with you and you said ‘square up mother fucker’ and I moved in the next day.” 

“I sound obnoxious.” 

“God, you’re perfect.” Peter took a chance and dropped a gentle kiss on Wade’s hand, gratified when Wade murmured, “ _Pete_.” and squeezed at his fingers as tight as he could manage. “Don’t get me wrong, you’re obnoxious and crude and honestly the worst but you’re perfect and I love you _so much_.” 

“Your pillow on the couch–” Wade tried to motion for the living room. “You left it here after we fought but do you have one in your world?” 

“I’ve got one.” Peter confirmed and Wade’s smile was a little stronger this time. “Actually, I have two since I already had one at my place. You went and bought me one for your place when I started sleeping over all the time, and now that we live together, there’s two pillows. We keep one in bed and one on my side of the couch.” 

“Left side of the couch?” 

“ _Always_.” 

“Tell me–” Wade wheezed through a cough and Peter got him another drink. “Tell me um–” 

“I’m just going to tell you everything.” Peter readjusted the blankets further up on Wade’s chest, then leaned up and placed a kiss on his forehead, lingering when Wade’s hand came to rest at his side for a moment. “I’m just going to tell you everything, alright? Wait until you hear about the night we crashed J. Jonah Jameson’s charity ball in our costumes. Oh and oh my _god_ , Tony Stark actually invites you to dinners all the time but one time you kissed me in front of Sam Wilson and he didn’t shut up about it for a week and a half and…” 

*******************

When Peter’s watch chimed at another hour, two hours down and one hour to go, he was mid story about the time he and Wade had tried to paint the bathroom in the apartment and now there was paint all over the toilet and on most of their towels and Wade was laughing– or trying to laugh at least– over Peter’s description of how _terrible_ a decision neon green had been for their shower tiles. 

“So then you turned to me and said–” Peter stopped when Wade shifted on the bed and grimaced. “What can I do? Is it your back? Are you hurting?” 

“Always.” Wade shifted again, pain flitting across his face. “Don’t worry about it though. Tell me– did we ever adopt a dog? Or a pet? You used to ask me for–” 

“A pet is on our to-do list once we get a bigger place.” Peter swallowed past the lump in his throat to ask, “Do you want me to turn up your morphine?” 

It wasn’t a good sign when the morphine wasn’t working, when it had to be turned up more and more. Peter knew enough to know morphine was the pain medication for those beyond help, for when a doctor used the term ‘ _make them comfortable_ ’ and it hurt him in a very real part of his soul to think Wade was at that stage. 

“Do you want me to turn it up?” he whispered again and Wade shook his head, whispering back,. “It makes me sleepy and I don’t want to sleep while you’re here, Pete. I don’t want to miss this. Been forever since I’ve seen you, I don’t wanna miss anything.” 

“You won’t miss anything.” Peter assured him. “I don’t want you to hurt baby, I’ll just–” Wade’s eyes misted over the endearment and Peter said it again, “Baby, I’ll just climb in bed with you so if you fall asleep, I can fall asleep too alright? No big deal.” 

“Yeah? I won’t miss anything?” 

“No no, I’ll be right here, I promise.” Peter upped the dial on the morphine, watched Wade’s eyes glass over a little more and then very carefully climbed onto the bed next to him, moving the cords so he could tuck in next to Wade and put an arm around his waist. “How’s that? Am I okay here?” 

“Miss you.” Wade’s words slurred through the morphine. “Peter Pumpkin, miss you. Shouldn’t have sent you away. Jus’ didn’t want to make you sad. Now’m selfish, wanting you back.” 

“It’s alright.” Peter linked their fingers together and hugged Wade as gently as he could. “It’s alright, don’t worry about that now. I’m here, right? I’m here. You’re not selfish, Wade. You’re not–just don’t worry about it. If you need to rest–” Peter bit his tongue so he wouldn’t cry. “–just rest. Close your eyes. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” 

“…not asleep yet…keep talking to me?”

“Okay.” Peter took in a deep breath and started again. “So this one time you took me to Canada and I got to find out how incredibly redneck you are when you’re out in your natural habitat? Funniest thing I’ve even seen. You wore overalls for a week straight and kept trying to convince me to go for a roll in the hay? And when I finally agreed, you _really_ just rolled me through some hay and laughed until you cried. I wasn’t amused at all. I was ready for some farm time sex and you were playing a practical joke.”

“Oh and for our two year anniversary, I took you up to the top of the Statue of Liberty and we had a picnic while staring out at the ocean. We bought all sorts of silly souvenirs and you kissed me at midnight and we flipped a coin to see who would top but the coin fell off the statue and into the water so I topped first and then you did and the next morning we were both _so. sore_.”

Wade chuckled a little at that, and Peter kept talking, story after story. Dinner dates and movie marathons and the time he was sick when Wade had panicked and brought him six types of chicken soup. The one unfortunate paintball episode that wasn’t ever talked about anymore and the way they are sort of friends with Matt Murdock but how Jessica Jones scares the shit out of both of them. How they made a point to cook dinner together at least once a week and it was always literally a disaster and always so much fun. 

He told Wade about the litany of stupid nicknames, from _lemonwhiskers_ to _snickerdoodle_ and how the frequency and ridiculousness varied depending on how upset Peter was, and he told him about the cheesy cards they bought each other for every possible occasion, and how they really really did the rose petals on the floor things for romance time, even though it was fake rose petals because there had been a one time _thorn_ incident. 

Then Peter’s watch chimed half an hour warning. 

“You gotta go.” Wade was barely audible know, breath shallow and eyes closed because he didn’t have the energy to keep them open. “Pete. You gotta go. Don’t be late.” 

“I told you I’d stay until you fell asleep.” Peter whispered. “So just listen. The first time you told me you loved me was a Tuesday. We were eating like, a million egg rolls and I was mid bite and probably looked terrible and you looked over at me and told me ‘Sure seems like I’m in love with you’ which wasn’t romantic at all, but was still perfect. I told you a few weeks later. We fell asleep together watching Golden Girls and you wrapped me up in like a dozen blankets because I shivered at some point and you were convinced I had hypothermia. I told you we couldn’t have sex if I was burrito wrapped and you told me–” 

Peter smiled through his tears, reaching out to wipe one from Wade’s cheek as well. “You told me you’d trade all the sex in the world for being able to watch me sleep, knowing I trusted you enough to fall asleep in your arms and I told you I loved you right then and there, told you that you were the only person I ever wanted to fall asleep next to ever again.” 

“You always take such good care of me, babe, no matter what. Any time I need anything, you’re there for me and I never have to worry about anything. You’ve brought me lunch when I forget to eat and one time drove clear across town to my work to bring me a tie so I wouldn’t get in trouble and sometimes– sometimes–” 

Peter drew a heart on Wade’s hand with his fingers and smiled when Wade managed a squeeze in return. “Sometimes I don’t think I deserve you, Wade. Dunno what I did in another life to get you in this one but I love you. I love you so much and you are my entire world.” 

“…entire world…” 

“Yeah.” Peter hid more tears in Wade’s blanket. “Yeah, babe. You are my entire world. Have I told you about how you convince me to do things? You always start with this whole phrase of ‘I’ve put alot of thought into this’ and I always say yes to whatever you ask because why the hell would I ever say no?” 

_Fifteen minutes._

“You loved me enough to not want me to cry over you.” Peter brushed careful fingers over Wade’s cheek, along the line of his jaw, down to the barely there pulse at his neck. “But I’m glad I’m here now, glad you’re not alone right now Wade, I– I–” 

“…we married?…” 

“No, not yet.” Peter shook his head and pressed a long kiss to Wade’s cheek. “But I bought a ring last week and I’ve been hiding it in my sock drawer because this Friday I got tickets to your favorite Broadway show and I’m going to propose there.” 

“…I’ll say yes. Promise. No version–of me– will ever say no.” 

_Ten minutes._

“…Pete?” 

“I’m here, I’m not leaving you. I’m here, babe, I’m right here.” 

_Five minutes._

Peter put his head down and sobbed into Wade’s chest as the steady heartbeat started to slow.

“ _Christ_ , Wade. I love you, do you know that? Every version of me loves every version of you. It doesn’t matter what universe this is, I will always always love you.

“…love you, Pete.”

 _One minute._

The blankets were pulled up to Wade’s chest and his eyes peacefully closed, and the last thing Peter did was open Wade’s phone and send a text to _his_ Peter to let him know Wade had passed peacefully, that the hospital had been notified and an ambulance was on its way. 

Then Peter bent and kissed Wade’s forehead, and shut the door behind him on the way out. 

*********************

*********************

The machine opened with a hiss and a whir and Peter stepped out into his own universe, face to face with a thoroughly pissed off Tony Stark. 

“What in the actual fuck do you think you were doing?” Tony shouted. “You could have been stuck in some stupid alternate universe– could have died– could have fucking gotten lost and I’d have to go in after your ass and then you really would have been in–” 

“Can you yell at me tomorrow?” Peter whispered, tears streaming down his face. “Please, Mr. Stark? I’m sorry but I have to get home. Right now.” 

He bolted from the lab and nearly ran into Captain Rogers, who joined Tony in the lab with a perplexed look on his face. 

“What’s up with Pete? He looked like he was crying? Was he in here?” 

“Yeah, he used the–” Tony motioned towards the machine, still staring out the door after Peter. “Babe, do you remember when I accidentally activated this thing and ended up in a multi verse where you and I didn’t love each other? You’d stayed in the past with Peggy and I never became Iron Man?” 

“Vividly.” Steve wrapped his arms around his husbands waist and dragged him in for a kiss. “It took

me _weeks_ to convince you that we were real and I loved you and that _this_ universe was the one you belonged in.” his face cleared after a moment. “You think Peter–” 

“Yeah. Yeah I do.” 

******************

******************

Peter didn’t stop running until he got to their apartment building, waving at the blonde and shockingly busty receptionist, jamming the button for the fifteenth floor in the elevator, bolting down the hallway and just breaking down the door to their apartment instead of wasting time looking for the key.

“Babe?” he yelled, searching the apartment for Wade. “Babe? Where are you? Wade!” 

“Heya sweet cheeks.” Wade was fresh from the shower and still wiping down with a towel. “How was work? Did you– _ooph_!” 

He caught a hundred and seventy five pounds of Spidey in his arms unexpectedly, backpedaling into the wall to keep his balance as Peter tackled him into a long kiss. 

“Baby boy _what’s wrong_?” Wade wiped away the tears as quickly as he could, checking Peter for injuries, trying to figure out why he was nearly hysterical. “Pumpkin? What’s going on?” 

“Don’t ever send me away.” Peter whispered fiercely, knotting his fingers in Wade’s shirt and yanking him down into another bruising kiss. “No matter what. Do not _ever_ send me away. I don’t care what happens or what you’re going through. Please. Please don’t leave me alone, don’t send me away. Not ever. I want you to love me forever. _Forever_ , Wade. Promise me.” 

“Hey hey hey.” Wade scooped Peter into his arms and headed for the couch, falling back onto the arm rest and cuddling him close. “Listen, I dunno what this is all about but I can promise– hey, look at me Pete– I can _promise_ , I’ll never send you away from me. I promise. I never you want you to be anywhere than right here with me. And I will love you forever. Don’t even worry about that.” 

“Are you sure?” Peter hiccuped through a sob. “Because I–I–”

“Snickerdoodle.” Wade cupped his jaw and kissed him sweetly. “Listen. I know you’ve been working on this multi verse thing, and I don’t know shit about _shit_ about that thing, but I can _promise_ you that you could search every single one of those places and never find a version of me that doesn’t want you. Every single version of me is going to love you forever. I promise.” 

“Okay.” Peter pressed tighter to Wade’s chest. “Because I’m gonna love you forever too. Every version of me. I’m never leaving you. We’re getting married. Like, tomorrow. I have a ring and–” 

“Wait, you have a ring?” 

“Yeah, I bought a ring and I was waiting until Friday to propose but I don’t want to wait, I don’t want to–” 

“I bought a ring too.” Wade felt around for Peter’s favorite pillow and flipped it over, digging around in a small tear Peter had never noticed before, retrieving a ring box. “Was gonna propose on Sunday when we went for our walk.”

“…Sunday?” 

“But now’s good.” Wade opened the box and showed Peter the ring inside. “Wanna be mine, baby boy?” 

“ _Oh_.” Tears again, and Wade snuggled Peter up even tighter. “Wade, I’m already yours. Every version of me is already yours. You know that right?” 

“I know, Pete.” Wade slid the ring onto Peter’s fingers and then grabbed at blankets to cover them up. “Please don’t cry lemonwhiskers, I’m not going anywhere. _We’re_ not going anywhere. I’ve got you. We aren’t supposed to cry at marriage proposals, that can’t be a healthy start to this whole thing. It’s bad enough neither one of us can wear white dresses because we’re so far past _virgins_ there’s probably a new word for it but–” 

“You’re the absolute worst.” Peter sniffed, knowing damn well he was leaving bruises at Wade’s side from holding him so tight, and unable to find it in himself to care. “The literal worst, do you know that? I love you so much.” 

“Aw sugar buns.” Wade dropped a kiss into all that thick hair and sighed. “I love you too.” 

And later that night as he tucked Peter into bed and admired the shine of his own ring, Wade thought back over how upset Peter had been and wondered aloud, “What happened, baby boy? Did you find the only universe out there where you and I aren’t soulmates?” 

Peter didn’t answer, snoring away peacefully on his favorite pillow and Wade chuckled, bending to kiss his cheek. 

“Nah, that would never happen would it? Every version of me will always always be destined to love every version of you.” 


End file.
